Not All Heroes From Earth Are Bad [EN]: Chapter 255

Two legends radiated auras as imposing as mountains.

Choi Hyun-seok and Park Hyun-ah gazed down upon the battlefield with unwavering composure.

Both the ground and the sky were densely packed with enemies.

Despite their vision being completely filled with enemies, their eyes remained steadfast and resolute.

“Noona, do you have any potions left?”

Choi Hyun-seok didn’t even blink, only slightly moving his lips.

A small voice barely audible to the person right next to him.

Park Hyun-ah snorted.

“Do you think I would?”

“I have one left.”
“So what? Showing off?”

“Yes.”
“That little punk… If we get out of this alive, you’re dead.”

Choi Hyun-seok and Park Hyun-ah continued to stare ahead expressionlessly.

One was amused, while the other was annoyed.

But now was the time for both of them to maintain their composure.

“They seem intimidated, don’t they?”

“They do.”
“If we play this right, we might be able to stall for time. How many minutes do we have left?”

“About 5 minutes or so.”
“They’ve managed to hold out this long.”

After 30 minutes had passed.

Choi Hyun-seok and Park Hyun-ah had almost completely exhausted their mana.

Normally, they wouldn’t have lasted another 10 minutes before collapsing.

However, they had endured for over 20 minutes.

This was thanks to the potions they had prepared in advance.

□ Top-Grade Healing Potion

Description: The pinnacle of healing potions! Even someone on the verge of death might survive with just one bottle of this!?

Effect: Heals wounds and restores a small amount of mana.

Required Hero Points: 5,000

A top-grade healing potion that cost a whopping 5,000 Hero Points per bottle.

Originally, the main purpose of this potion was to heal injuries, but it also contained a small amount of mana.

Just a tiny amount, barely enough to restore 0.5% with one bottle.

But it was better than nothing.

“Why doesn’t the Hero Shop have mana potions? If they did, things wouldn’t be so difficult.”

“How would I know?”

“By the way, Noona, my mana has recovered by about 10%.”

“What?”

Park Hyun-ah’s eyebrows twitched for a moment.

To recover 10% of her mana.

You might think 10% isn’t a big deal, but that’s not the case.

Choi Hyun-seok and Park Hyun-ah had an overwhelming amount of mana to begin with, so even 10% was more than what an average hero-level individual possessed.

So, it was more accurate to say “a whopping” 10% rather than “just” 10%.

“How did you do it? I saw you scrape the bottom of the barrel a while ago.”

Choi Hyun-seok had already used up all his mana.

Park Hyun-ah had seen it with her own eyes, so she was certain.

But she couldn’t understand how he had recovered 10% of his mana while fighting in such a short amount of time.

“I stopped using mana and relied on my body from the middle on.”

“What?”

“Doesn’t drinking a potion restore about 0.5%? I didn’t use it and kept saving it up.”

Choi Hyun-seok’s method of recovering mana was simple.

First, don’t use mana.

Then, even Choi Hyun-seok would quickly face a crisis.

When he felt like he was really about to die, he would drink a top-grade healing potion.

At that time, along with his health, a very small amount of mana would be restored.

Like gathering pebbles to form a mountain.

By collecting it in that way, he had somehow recovered 10% of his mana.

It was definitely a great feat, but Park Hyun-ah’s reaction was cold.

“You crazy bastard.”

To think of relying on his body while facing a legend and over a hundred thousand elite soldiers.

He was beyond crazy.

Even with a top-grade potion, not all wounds were healed instantly.

‘We’ve grown too much for potions to heal us effectively.’

It’s easy to understand if you think of it like a game.

Let’s say there’s a potion that restores 10 HP [Hit Points].

If your maximum HP is 20, drinking the potion will restore half of your HP.

But what if your maximum HP is 200?

Or even higher, like 2,000?

Restoring just 10 HP won’t have a significant impact on the battle.

‘Top-grade healing potions are a bit more effective… but even then, they’re not enough to get us out of a life-threatening situation.’

In other words, potion recovery for Choi Hyun-seok and Park Hyun-ah was not a panacea, but rather a way to buy some time.

To endure with just potions without mana?

That was impossible.

A feat possible only for Choi Hyun-seok, who was skilled in combat.

If Park Hyun-ah had tried to endure in the same way, she would have been lying among the corpses on the ground long ago.

“Anyway, doesn’t this mean we’ve succeeded? I think we can hold out for another 5 minutes.”
“Just because we endure for 1 hour doesn’t guarantee success. The minimum time required for the operation to succeed is 1 hour.”

In this operation, 1 hour was not a time that guaranteed success.

Rather, it was a time that determined failure.

If they couldn’t endure for 1 hour, the operation would fail.

So, the meaning was to endure for at least 1 hour.

“The good thing is that those guys haven’t noticed that the Great Temple is under attack yet.”

So far, the situation wasn’t bad.

The enemy’s forces were still tied up here, and the time was approaching 1 hour.

The longer they endured, the higher the probability of the operation’s success, so it could be said to be a good situation.

“If those guys keep being scared and don’t come in, we’ll definitely succeed.”
“Stop blabbering. You’re losing your cool.”

“Yes, sir.”
“Right now, if we lose our cool, it’s over. Focus your eyes. Stare with the mindset that even a twitch of a toe will ruin everything.”

“Hmph!”

Choi Hyun-seok and Park Hyun-ah glared even more fiercely.

A threat that wouldn’t even be funny if made by a neighborhood thug, but when a legend-level powerhouse intentionally exuded killing intent, even this threat became an excellent means of pressure.

As time passed.

Just as the battle was approaching the 1-hour mark.

KWAHHHHHHHH-!

Suddenly, an enormous amount of mana erupted from the capital, Gratiam.

The mana materialized and soared like a pillar.

“What is that?”

“I don’t know either.”

The mana surging from Gratiam.

Park Hyun-ah could tell at once that it was the mana of a single individual.

The amount was equal to or greater than her own.

She was still staring at the enemy in the same posture, but she couldn’t help but feel cold sweat running down her back.

“There’s no way I wouldn’t know someone with that much mana… What is it?”

Park Hyun-ah’s mana far surpassed the legend level.

Just looking at the ‘amount’ of mana, it was comparable to Hemi’s during her prime.

Of course, she had never seen anyone among humans who was even close to that level.

Even among the demons, there was no one with that much mana except for the previous Demon King.

“Over there. It seems to be that guy who appeared next to Hammer Woman [Kinley Fusel].”

“That’s right.”

A young man wearing the pure white robes of the Deusis Order.

He appeared without a sound and spoke with Kinley Fusel.

“For now, it seems like he’s not on our side.”
“Is he Gatrein’s secret weapon or something?”

It was then that the enemies moved.

Kinley Fusel and Gelling Mustan.

The two legends, along with the elite knight order, began to retreat.

“Noona. Those bastards are running away?”

“Stop them!”

It was clear that they had noticed the Great Temple was under attack and were going to provide support.

Choi Hyun-seok and Park Hyun-ah rushed out simultaneously, as if they had planned it.

Fortunately, they had endured for the promised 1 hour, but they didn’t know if they had completed their mission yet.

They had to hold onto those guys for even a little longer.

PAAH!

The two who had rushed out so bravely were bounced back at the same time.

The man who had appeared suddenly had swung his staff.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

The man stared at them with sharply torn eyes.

“It’ll be difficult to keep you separated.”
“Ha… Did you happen to destroy the space-time gate in the city?”
“I destroyed about three while fighting, but I don’t know if they were connected to the Great Temple.”

“Tsk, we’re screwed.”

Park Hyun-ah clicked her tongue.

There should be at least dozens of space-time gates in that huge city.

It would be foolish to expect that the three she accidentally destroyed were heading to the Great Temple, which was their destination.

“We’ve stalled for time as much as we could, let’s just quickly deal with this guy with a combined attack. That’ll be more beneficial.”

After thinking for a very short time, Park Hyun-ah nodded.

Choi Hyun-seok was right.

It would be pointless to try to chase the enemy here, and it wouldn’t lead to anything.

It was better to focus on defeating the man in front of them.

“I haven’t heard that the Holy Empire had any legends left besides the No-Hope Trio [Kinley Fusel, Gelling Mustan, and one other].”

Choi Hyun-seok said as he naturally stepped forward.

His condition was better than Park Hyun-ah, who was completely exhausted of health and mana.

“Oh my, don’t you recognize me? Choi Hyun-seok.”

“You know me?”

“Didn’t we have a conversation just 30 minutes ago?”

“Huh…?”

Choi Hyun-seok blinked.

The only person he had talked to 30 minutes ago was the Pope.

“Could it be… the Pope?”

“What nonsense. The Pope is a decrepit old man.”

The man’s lips twitched.

The phrase ‘decrepit old man’ seemed to have touched a nerve.

Park Hyun-ah continued to say what she wanted without paying attention.

“And it’s not mana either. I saw the Pope before, and there was no sign of him hiding his mana. His divine power is moderately…”

Park Hyun-ah stopped talking abruptly.

She could feel both mana and divine power from the man at the same time.

Since both were human powers, it wasn’t that rare to have both at the same time.

What really surprised Park Hyun-ah was the nature of the divine power she felt from the man.

“It’s similar…?”

Relatively weaker than mana, but divine power that was about the level of a cardinal.

Its nature was identical to the divine power she had felt from Pope Orban IV, whom she had only seen once.

“You. Are you really the Pope?”

The man nodded with a smile.

The shock on Park Hyun-ah and Choi Hyun-seok’s faces deepened even further.

“What is it? Can humans suddenly become younger?”
“He couldn’t have been pretending to be an old man with magic… If he had, there’s no way he wouldn’t have been caught until now.”

There was a limit to hiding one’s appearance with magic.

The current Pope had been in office for decades.

To never release the magic during that long period of time and not be detected?

Impossible.

More than that, the Pope didn’t have the mana to use such magic in the first place.

Until just 30 minutes ago, he was just an old man with a lot of divine power.

“What trick did you use?”

No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t figure out the Pope’s trick.

The Pope nodded with his unique benevolent smile.

“Are you curious?”

“Yeah.”

“You’ll be dead soon anyway, so what’s the point of knowing?”

The staff filled with heavy mana was swung.

Choi Hyun-seok and Park Hyun-ah jumped out at the same time.

“Damn it…! Let’s get him!”

***

Kinley Fusel.

She was heading to the Great Temple quickly, recalling what had happened a little while ago.

“I am Pope Orban IV.”

The young man who identified himself as the Pope.

Kinley naturally didn’t believe it.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re the Pope? The Pope is a decrepit old man.”
“A decrepit old man… How rude. What would you do if I really was the Pope and you made such a reckless statement?”
“Enough. Reveal your identity. Is the Pope hiding another card? Or…”

“Stop.”

The man held out his staff.

At the same time, Kinley’s eyes widened.

A tremendous amount of mana was constricting her from all directions as if it had mass.

“Kuh… You…!”

“Now is not the time to argue about honorifics. The Great Temple is under attack.”

The man took out an order from his chest.

It was the last order he had written before handing over the seal to Quan Obriel.

“Kinley Fusel. Gelling Mustan. Lead the knights to the Great Temple written in the order right now. Every minute and every second is urgent.”

Only then did the mana that had been pressuring Kinley disappear.

She gasped for breath and received the order.

After checking, it was definitely the Pope’s order.

“What are you doing? Why aren’t you leaving?”

“… Damn it!”

Kinley had no choice but to head straight to the Great Temple.

‘That guy. Is he really the Pope?’

Although it was only for a moment, the power the man had shown was enormous.

Even though she was exhausted, to be so helplessly defeated.

‘Even if I was in normal condition…’

Even if she was in the best condition, victory was impossible.

To be honest, she didn’t even know how long she could endure.

That’s how overwhelming the man’s power was.

‘Choi Hyun-seok and Park Hyun-ah. I guess I won’t be able to see those bastards again.’

Anyway, the tiresome bad relationship is now over.

Just like herself.

No, the two of them were much more exhausted than herself.

They would never be able to win against that man.

Thinking that, Kinley headed towards the Great Temple in front of her.